The Digital Marketing Plan That Will Get Your Law Firm More Clients

Reputation and word of mouth still speak volumes, not to mention a stellar trial record. However, law firms still need to remain competitive in their advertising. A digital marketing plan is an absolute must for advertising and finding new clients.

Digital marketing strategies evolve constantly, and a law firm needs to keep up with marketing trends to draw clients.

Here is a list of key strategies that law firms should add to their marketing plans.

Paid Social Advertising

Like any other media platform, social media is evolving. Organic advertising has always been an effective tool and continues to prove very important in advertising. Organic advertising builds your firm’s social network using free tools. Social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn offer these tools for free.

AlthoughOrganic social media still serves its purpose, especially for individual lawyers, law firms find more success with targeted, paid social media advertising.

Social networks are for-profit businesses. They profit from selling access, so they make it more difficult for larger businesses to do so for free. The negative impact of this is that law firms are finding it more difficult to market to their target audience Organically.

This means that paid social advertising is a better way for law firms to engage their target audiences, and ensure results.

Reaching Your Targeted Audience

As an example, Facebook allows you to upload lists of email addresses of clients or prospects. From this upload, it creates a list of similar people based on different factors, with the new list becoming a base for targeted advertising.

This type of Social Media targeting is new, and when combined with analytics, it results in an exceptional Return on Investment (ROI).

Analytics Marketing

Media advertising on television, radio and print sources still has its place. However, Internet and social media advertising have changed the way businesses interact with clients and potential clients.

Social media, content marketing, search engines, and email allow law firms to engage with their targets.

This contact is more than communication. It is data that you can collect and analyze for marketing purposes. From this data, you can develop marketing strategies that yield strong results.

Firms can analyze previous strategies that were ineffective. Then, they can switch to a new approach. This leads to a digital marketing plan with stronger solutions and less trial and error.

Live Video

Inexpensive video content is becoming a popular format for many companies, including law firms. Wireless networks are more stable now, and smartphones provide a means to create and view video easily. Given how easy it is to now create video content, its popularity will keep growing.

Commercial Video vs. “Smart Phone Video”

Law firms have invested in video production for a long time and will continue to pay for high-quality video. Professional videos are perfect for filming special event and conferences, as well as attorney bios.

However, smartphones and inexpensive cameras allow anyone to increase their video advertising easily and inexpensively. Video quality on an iPhone or Android smartphone improves with every release.

This allows you to add on-demand video to your digital marketing plan. You can create videos quickly and share them through social media, blog posts, email newsletters, and so on.

Live Streaming

Live streaming has also become another popular advertising method across all industries, including law firms who are increasingly incorporating them into their digital marketing plan.

Apps such as Facebook Live, Snapchat, Periscope, and Instagram allow you to stream live video to your contacts with some firms using the feature to stream seminars, podcasts, and other events.

Podcasts

Since 2016, podcasts have grown in popularity in the area of digital marketing.

21% of Americans ages 12 and up have listened to a podcast in the last month, up from 17% the previous year.

The explosion in podcasting is driven by mobility. Sixty-four percent of podcasts are being listened to on a smartphone or tablet. Busy professionals, who may be prospective clients, can listen to a podcast during their daily commute.

Simple to Create

Podcasts are simple to create. Lawyers and legal marketers can create engaging content that is targeted to their audiences. The technology required is inexpensive and specialist consultants are available to help law firms create and distribute their podcasts.

In short, podcasting is an inexpensive way for law firms to prove their experience to a wide audience.

E-books

Mobile technology has changed people’s reading habits. E-books, or electronic digital books, are available to read on electronic devices with e-book apps.

Easy to Create and Publish

E-books are easy to create with sites such as Amazon making them easy to publish and promote as well.

E-books provide an opportunity for lawyers and law firms to publish their work and establish authority in their area of practice.

Repurpose Quality Content

Often, lawyers can collect a series of their past blog posts and combine them into an e-book.

This a good way to repurpose quality content. It is also less challenging than writing a book start to finish.

Repurposing blog posts is an intelligent part of any digital marketing plan, helping you to save time and money.

Integrated Marketing Campaigns

Any digital marketing plan should be focused and integrated. In the past, marketing strategies focused on the law firm as a whole. Then, they created a separate strategy for each media outlet.

Currently, firms are creating marketing campaigns around topics that interest their clients.

They can market the topic through all channels – television, print, and digital. Digital channels include social networks, internet, email, client alerts, and so on.

Native Advertising

Native advertising is material inside a publication that looks like editorial content. It is actually a paid advertisement.

This is not a new concept in marketing, but it is a new strategy for law firms. Law firms haven’t used native advertising in the past to reach their target audience.

Native advertising complements organic content marketing well, and including both in their digital marketing plan serves law firms well.

More law firms are creating content. It is challenging, then, to stand out and connect with target audiences.

Because many print outlets and television stations are creating digital platforms, it is becoming easier and more cost-effective to include native advertising in a digital marketing plan

Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising is the fastest-growing digital format for marketing. Companies, in our case law firms, use geofencing technology to target their audience by location.

Target Specific Locations

Geofencing involves using GPS technology to create a virtual boundary, which enables software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leave the designated area.

Commonly, you experience geofencing when you walk into a department store and start receiving messages about store sales.

Law firms are using geofencing for mobile advertising as well. For example, personal injury lawyers set up their target locations for hospitals or emergency room. Criminal lawyers may do the same with police stations.

What Is Your Digital Marketing Plan?

Does your firm’s digital marketing plan cover all these strategies? If not, there is room to add to that plan. All of the above strategies have proven to attract clients, so contact us today to see what suggestions we have for your firm.